On Sunday, about 60 people marked the task force's 25th Anniversary and commemorated Marbleheaders' positive reaction in the days, months and years following the desecration.

By William J. Dowdwdowd@wickedlocal.com

In the early morning of July 27, 1989, a trespassing miscreant spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on Temple Emanu-el and the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore.In the wake of the vandalism, Marblehead townspeople rallied, beginning with 2,500 people descending upon Atlantic Avenue and walking in solidarity against discrimination. That same day, people painted over swastikas on a granite rock outside the JCC's community swimming pool.Members of the Marblehead Ministerial Association revived an Interfaith Covenant, which had been created in response to a different anti-Semitic incident a decade earlier.And, within the week of the incident, Marblehead's Board of Selectmen brought into being the Task Force Against Discrimination on Aug. 2, 1989.On Sunday, about 60 people marked the task force's 25th Anniversary and commemorated Marbleheaders' positive reaction in the days, months and years following the desecration.The plan had been to reenact the walk of solidarity of 25 years ago and to have speakers offer their remarks outside, but afternoon showers prompted organizers to move the program inside Temple Emanu-El.“When we plan, God laughs,” Rabbi David Meyer said, opened the program with words of welcome.Throughout the program, community and religious leaders and public safety and elected officials recalled what happened on that day 25 years ago. Others spoke to the proactive mechanisms that had been put into place to mitigate the chances that hate crimes, bigotry and discrimination could occur again.Many offering remarks had direct involvement in organizing the town after the desecration.The Interfaith Covenant documents, which feature excerpts from the Old and New testaments and Bill of Rights, were displayed on the sanctuary stage, propped up against another pulpit. Meyer said they are “living documents,” which remind Marbleheaders to promote “goodness and peace.”For the past 25 years, Marblehead's places of worship have exchanged the documents annually.Echoing the rabbi's comments, former St. Michael's Church rector Rev. George Westerberg said the covenant helps Marbleheaders “acknowledge the pain of our neighbors,” and reminds them, “Let us be kind” always.Helaine Hazlett, co-chairman of and founding member of the task force, hoped people realized the desecrations were “isolated incidents.”“They do not represent the action of Marbleheader,” she said, adding that the town has historically been an inclusive and a welcoming community.Hazlett in particular is credited with turning the desecrations into a town-wide teachable moment.Our Lady, Star of the Sea Deacon Joe Whipple, a former selectman who cast the first vote to form the task force, dubbed Hazlett a “driving force” and “dynamo”that has sustained the task force's work over the years.Whipple, a member today, listed the task force's myriad efforts since its inception, from promoting a “climate in which we celebrate diversity,” spearheading “No Place For Hate” initiatives to blanketing the town with “a constant vigilance.”“We don't imagine an era in which these incidents don't occur,” he said, “but rather a future that improves on our past.”Selectmen Jackie Belf-Becker and Judy Jacobi presented a proclamation from the board, which Belf-Becker read aloud, declaring the desecrations as “cowardly acts” and the town as a place where “the dignity of all Marbleheaders” is respected and valued.Detective James Carney, representing Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office, pledged, “The district attorney is committed to prosecuting all incidents of discrimination.”Carney, former chief of Marblehead Police Department from 2000 to 2007, was a local officer when the desecrations happened. He recalled the acts had a“chilling effect on the community.”He said officers Brian Hitchcock and John Blaisdell executed a “textbook” investigation into the desecrations, culling information through interviews.Those interviews identified the 21-year-old perpetrator. Within 48 hours, officers had a warrant in hand.“When we obtained a court warrant, he fled to Somerville,” Carney said. “Which is where he was arrested. He was eventually prosecuted.”At the frontlines holding Marblehead's hand in solidarity has been the New England Region's Anti-Defamation League, noted Robert Trestan, the organization's executive director.“The Marblehead Task Force Against Discrimination is the North Shore's iron dome against hate,” Trestan said. “Today is a reminder about the effectiveness of vigilance and how people coming together can send a powerful message.”He added that more work remains, pointing to anti-Semitic incidents in Brookline, Lowell and Auburn within the past month.“Communities should never be judged on whether hate or bigotry emerges,” Trestan said. “Rather, we judge based on the reaction and response. Your response then and now represents the gold standard.”Ceremonial exercises inside the sanctuary dissolved with members of Marblehead's Church of St. Andrew's Noteworthies choir leading a rendition of “God Bless America” before Temple Emanu-El served refreshments.Attendees then gathered outside the JCC's community swimming pool. Under a partially cloudy sky, Hazlett handed out paintbrushes. Everyone dipped his or her brush in a bucket full of white paint and then lathered it on the granite rock — just as those who gathered there 25 years ago had done.